


Security Hat

by KyleMeMaybe



Category: South Park
Genre: Craig is a Good Boyfriend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Issues, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Character, mentions of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 06:44:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18867868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyleMeMaybe/pseuds/KyleMeMaybe
Summary: In times when he needs to feel grounded the most, Tweek finds comfort in an unexpected--or maybe, entirely expected--source.(Alternatively, two times Craig lent Tweek his hat and one time Tweek asked for it)





	Security Hat

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fluffy Creek--I'm a little worried this is a bit OOC but I'm still practicing writing these characters, and I've wanted to write this idea for ages now. Hopefully some people will enjoy it!

It was a cold day. Not that there were many days when the little mountain town of South Park  _ wasn’t  _ cold, but winters were always the worst. Most people were practically immune to it by now, just bundling up in an extra layer before heading out if they needed it.  

 

Today, though, it couldn’t be denied that it was even chillier than usual, and Tweek was definitely aware of it. A frosty wind blew, scattering snowflakes through the air as they tumbled down to the ground, as he walked side-by-side next to Craig on their way home from school. The wind was frigid enough to make him glad he’d remembered to wear a jacket for once, but also make him regret not bringing a hat too. His ears were freezing and his face was numb, but he tried to ignore it as he listened to Craig go on about some sci-fi movie he’d watched the night before.

 

“....and then, just when you least expect it, an alien bursts  _ right out of his chest,”  _ Craig was saying, emphasizing the last part in particular. He didn’t always get so enthusiastic when rehashing stories, but sometimes it was fun to joke around just to get a rise out of Tweek when he knew he could. This time was no exception.

 

“Gross!” Tweek exclaimed, a shiver running up his spine that had nothing to do with the weather this time. “That’s disgusting, Craig. How can you stand watching movies like that?”

 

“Because unlike you, I don’t have a weak stomach.” A hint of a smirk quirked at the corner of Craig’s mouth. “Come on, you laugh at fart jokes, don’t you?”

 

“There’s a difference between fart jokes and someone’s guts exploding everywhere!”

 

That actually made Craig chuckle, which caused a spark of happiness to light up in Tweek’s heart. He liked it when he was able to make the other laugh, even if it was at the expense of some teasing.

 

Craig reached over then, taking Tweek’s hand in his. “Wow, your hands are freezing--don’t you think you should wear gloves sometimes?”

 

“I guess.” Tweek gave a half-shrug. “I don’t like how they make my hands all sweaty.”

 

“Well, you should at least wear a hat. You look cold. Wait, hang on.” 

 

Craig stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, causing Tweek to stop with him. He pulled off his signature blue chollo hat, the one he’d worn every day for as long as Tweek had known him, and offered it to him. “Here, wear this.”

 

Tweek glanced at the hat, then back up at Craig, at his slightly matted black hair. “But...it’s  _ your  _ hat. I can’t take your hat.”

 

“Why not? It’s not like I have lice or anything.”

 

“No, I know that…! I wasn’t worried about that!” Tweek said hastily, even though he knew Craig wasn’t really offended. “But...it’s cold, you should be wearing your hat. I’m fine.”

 

“But you’re cold too. I can tell. I  _ want  _ you to wear it.”

 

“But…”

 

Craig didn’t let Tweek protest further. Instead he gently pulled his hand away and tugged the hat over Tweek’s head, causing him to jump in surprise at the swift gesture. 

 

“There.” Craig adjusted the ear flaps and tucked Tweek’s messy blond hair into place. “That’s a little better, isn’t it?”

 

Tweek didn’t speak for a moment. The hat  _ was  _ cozy, the soft knit material instantly thawing out his chilly ears. And there was something almost indescribably...what was it... _ comforting  _ about wearing it, too, like bundling up in a security blanket. He wasn’t sure why, but he liked it, and for some reason that realization made him feel a little awkward.

 

“Um...y-yeah.” Tweek’s cheeks warmed up, though whether it was from the hat or his own sudden shyness, he couldn’t be sure. He hoped Craig would assume it was just the cold still affecting him. “Thanks, Craig.”

 

“No problem, babe.” Craig slipped his hand into Tweek’s again, and gave it a little squeeze. “Hey, do you want to come over to my house today? We can play with Stripe and build him a maze like we did last time.”

 

“Okay.” Tweek reached up and absentmindedly tugged at the ear flap on Craig’s hat, smiling a little. “That sounds good. Let’s go.”

 

They walked hand-in-hand all the way to the Tuckers’ house. Tweek forgot all about the cold.

 

—————

 

“Hey Tweek, are you okay? You look like crap.”

 

Tweek couldn’t deny Craig’s comment--he  _ felt  _ like crap, too. Craig had caught him leaning against his locker, his forehead pressed against its cool metal door. It was just about the only thing keeping him upright at the moment, not that he wanted Craig to know that.

 

“I’m fine,” Tweek mumbled, wincing at the pain that flared up in his throat when he spoke, as he tilted his head slightly to face his boyfriend. “It’s just a cold.”

 

At least, he  _ hoped _ it was just a cold. Exhaustion weighed him down, to the point where every step felt slow and heavy and it required major effort to keep his eyes open, even with coffee in his system. His throat burned painfully, growing worse every time he coughed and stinging even when he breathed. Maybe he had strep throat. Or mononucleosis. Or pneumonia. Maybe he was dying. He told himself to stop overthinking it, but that was much easier said than done.

 

“You sure?” Craig frowned, raising an eyebrow. “You look really pale, and you’re shaking like crazy.”

 

“I’m always pale and shaking,” Tweek pointed out, even though he knew that wasn’t what Craig meant. He was shivering uncontrollably. He was sure he had a fever, and yet he was so  _ cold.  _ Why did the human body have to work like that?

 

“Tweek, come on. I think I know you better than that by now,” Craig replied insistently. “I can tell you’re sick, you don’t have to hide it. Maybe you should go to the nurse’s office, you look like the walking dead.”

 

A stab of panic shot through Tweek at the suggestion, and he shook his head vehemently. “N-no! That’s okay, I don’t need the nurse. I can make it through the day.” 

 

Craig noticed the shift in Tweek’s demeanor, which was sudden even for him, and his frown deepened. “Is something wrong?”

 

“N-no, no. It’s fine. Come on, we should get to class.” Tweek pushed himself away from his locker and turned to go, but the abrupt movement proved to be a big mistake. An unexpected wave of dizziness crashed over him, tripping him up, and for a frantic second he thought he was going to hit the floor….

 

….but instead, Craig lunged forward just in time to catch him, breaking his fall. 

 

“Whoa, Tweek, are you alright?” Now Craig was the one who sounded almost frantic, still holding on to Tweek. “What happened?”

 

“I’m f-fine,” Tweek croaked again, but this time he was too shaken up to even try making himself sound convincing. He didn’t dare pull away from Craig’s secure grip, either, just clung to him tightly and willed his head to stop spinning so much. “I m-moved too fast and got kind of dizzy, that’s all…”    

 

Craig seized the opportunity to press a hand against Tweek’s forehead. “Okay, babe, you’re totally burning up--not to mention getting woozy like that isn’t a good sign. I think you should definitely go to the nurse, you need to go home and rest.” 

 

“Ngh...d-don’t want to…” Tweek was aware he was whimpering when he said that, but he couldn’t help it. He burrowed closer to Craig, partly for comfort and partly because he felt so warm in comparison to him. 

 

“This is just a guess, but...I’m starting to think maybe there’s a reason you don’t want to go home.” Craig didn’t push Tweek away, instead ruffling his already tousled hair. “Will you tell me why?”

 

“Ngh...it’s just...my parents are both gonna be at work, and I don’t wanna be home alone,” Tweek confided weakly. There was no point in continuing to hide the truth from Craig. “I s-saw the underpants gnomes this morning...wh-what if they steal  _ me  _ this time ‘cause I can’t fight them off?! They’ll t-take me away and force me to be their princess or something…” 

 

As Tweek rambled drowsily, Craig took stock of the situation. Tweek hadn’t brought up the underpants gnomes in ages, and Craig was sure he hadn’t actually seen any—but he did recall that it wasn’t unusual for Tweek to get a little delirious and let his paranoia get the best of him when he was running a fever. It was unfortunate, but true. All Craig could do now was be reassuring.

 

“Tweek...listen to me. There aren’t any underpants gnomes, they aren’t going to come kidnap you. You’re just imagining things, I promise.”

 

“You d-don’t  _ know  _ that. N-not for sure.”

 

“I think I can be reasonably sure of that, yeah.”

 

“B-but….”

 

“Tweek.” Craig looked Tweek in the eyes, and could see in them just how exhausted yet troubled he was feeling. “I wouldn’t lie to you about that, would I? I guarantee you, there are no underpants gnomes, and they aren’t coming to get you. You trust me, right?”

 

Tweek made himself meet Craig’s gaze, suddenly too tired to fight or come up with more theories to prove his point. His head throbbed, everything ached, and he just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. And besides...he did trust Craig, more than he’d ever trusted anyone else in his life. 

 

Slowly, at last, he nodded.

 

“So will you let me take you to the nurse now?”

 

Again, Tweek nodded, albeit somewhat hesitantly.

 

“Okay, then let’s go. Oh, but first…” Before Tweek’s sluggish mind could process it, Craig had taken off his hat and pulled it onto Tweek’s head again. “There...you’re still cold, right? Maybe that’ll help you warm up.”

 

“But...I don’t want to get my germs on your hat. You could get sick from me.”

 

Craig shrugged. “I don’t really care. Besides, that’d mean a day off of school for me, anyway.”

 

Tweek didn’t think that was a good enough reason, but his head was too foggy to form an argument against it and his throat was too sore to protest further. Besides...just like last time, there was something about wearing Craig’s hat that had a calming effect over him, dulling some of his worries and making them seem not so significant. Or maybe he was officially too sick and out-of-it to care anymore, anyway...he couldn’t be too sure of that now.

 

“Here, let’s go. You need to get home and rest.” Craig let Tweek lean against him for balance, and Tweek rested his head against Craig’s shoulder as he finally allowed him lead the way to the nurse’s office.

 

In the end, Tweek stayed home from school for the rest of the week with the flu. Craig visited him once to drop off some homework assignments (only once, before he ended up catching Tweek’s flu too--Tweek didn’t have it in him to say he told him so). Before he left Tweek tried to return Craig’s hat, but Craig declined, insisting that Tweek could keep it for now and just return it once they saw each other at school again. 

 

Tweek kept the hat on the table next to his bed, next to his empty glasses of orange juice and bottles of medicine, wearing it any time he felt chilly or even lonely. Whenever he thought he spied a gnome out of the corner of his eye or peeking out from his dresser drawer, he yanked the hat over his eyes so he couldn’t see anything, pretending there wasn’t anything there. It was more effective than he would have thought.

 

It was like Craig was right there with him, holding his hand.

 

—————

 

“Hey, what happened to your hand?”

 

Craig’s question made Tweek jump. They’d been sitting together on a bench by Stark’s Pond, neither of them having spoken for awhile, Tweek’s mind wandering farther and farther away. He wasn’t sure if it was Craig’s voice or the question itself that had set off his panic, but he was definitely on the alert now.

 

“N-nothing.” Tweek pulled his hand away from Craig, which he realized in hindsight probably looked even more suspicious. He didn’t look at the strip of gauze wrapped around his hand, and he didn’t let himself think of the wound underneath it either, though he could still picture it in his mind.   

 

Craig furrowed his brows at Tweek, unconvinced. “Did you hurt it?”

 

“Uh...y-yeah. But it’s no big deal.”

 

“If it’s no big deal, why won’t you tell me about it?” Craig prompted, and Tweek knew he had a point. He  _ always  _ had a point.

 

“Because….because I don’t know.” Tweek shook his head quickly, frustrated with himself for always getting so worked up over everything. “Because if I tell you, you’ll get worried, or mad, or...something.”

 

“I mean, yeah, of course I’d be worried. Or mad if anyone hurt you. Did someone hurt you and that’s why you won’t tell me? Because you don’t want me to start a fight with someone?”

 

“Craig, you know I could fight someone just as well as you could. I fought  _ you  _ before, remember?” Tweek wrung his hands, fiddling with the gauze and tugging at a loose piece of it, not meeting Craig’s gaze. “I burned myself, that’s all.”

 

“Oh.” Tweek sensed relief in Craig’s voice, but he tensed up regardless, anticipating Craig’s next question. “How, though?”

 

Tweek drew in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “At work. It was really busy and I was rushing too much, and I accidentally spilled hot coffee on my hand. It’s just a little burn though, it only hurts a little now…”

 

That was enough to ignite Craig’s rage, though. He didn’t let his anger bubble over too much, but there was definite fire in his voice as he spoke. “I can’t believe your parents force you to work at the coffee shop like that. You’re  _ always  _ working. Don’t they know there are laws against that? And did they even care you got hurt?”

 

“They let me take the rest of the afternoon off, but…” Tweek’s voice trembled, and he couldn’t think of how to phrase what he wanted to say next. He wound his hands into his hair, tugging at it, his usual nervous habit.

 

“But what…?” Craig questioned.

 

“I…” Tweek shook his head again, tightening his grip on his hair. “I just...I  _ hate  _ working there. I hate the crowds, I hate always rushing around serving people or cleaning something, I hate that I’m stuck there for so long sometimes that I have to stay up late to do my homework...I’m so used to it now, but I still hate it!”

 

Tweek had to stop to catch his breath, his chest heaving. He hadn’t meant to let those emotions spill out so suddenly—he hadn’t realized he’d been holding so much in until it all poured out. He hoped it hadn’t been a mistake.

 

Meanwhile Craig was watching him closely; Tweek could see that out of the corner of his eye, even though he still hadn’t brought himself to face him. It was hard to read what he could see of his expression.

 

“Tweek...don’t you think you should really talk to your parents about this?” Craig finally ventured, scooting closer on the bench so he could place a hand on Tweek’s shoulder. “I mean...I know you hate working there, and I know it’s stressful. It’s probably not good for you to work so much. I really think you should stand up to them and tell them you need to start working less.”

 

“I  _ can’t.”  _ Tweek twisted his hair around his fingers, yanking on it. It hurt, but it was the kind of pain he’d grown accustomed to and could easily ignore now. “If I do, they’ll just remind me this is a family business, and I’m part of the family, so it’s my responsibility too. But sometimes…sometimes I think they look at me more like an employee than like their kid.”

 

Tears stung Tweek’s eyes suddenly. He’d felt that for a long time, but hadn’t brought himself to say it out loud, even though he was sure Craig could probably guess how he felt. Craig knew how Tweek felt about his parents, how they weren’t always there for him when he needed them and didn’t even try to understand his problems, but somehow giving a voice to his feelings made his concerns seem more real. 

 

“Tweek…” Craig’s voice trailed off as he took a minute to figure out what to say. He wasn’t always the best at knowing what was the right thing to say, especially when Tweek got emotional like this...but he was trying, always trying, and getting a little better at handling it every time. Finally he said, “I’m sorry, babe, that really sucks. I’m sure that feels terrible. Is there anything I can do to help?”

 

Tweek hesitated, sniffling. He  _ did  _ had one request, but would Craig find it weird…?

 

“I just want to help you feel better. If I can do anything, just let me know.” Craig spoke with more assurance then, and it was enough to make Tweek feel a little braver about his question.

 

“C-can I...can I wear your hat? Please?”

 

“My hat?” Craig repeated, puzzled.

 

“Y-yeah.” Tweek kept his gaze on the ground and blinked away his tears as he explained. “It’s just….I don’t know why, but wearing it makes me feel better. It makes me feel safe somehow. I don’t know how to describe it, and it probably sounds stupid, but….it helps a lot.”

 

Craig didn’t say anything at first, and for a minute Tweek was sure what he’d said was weird. He shouldn’t have said it, shouldn’t have asked…

 

But before he could find his voice again and come up with an excuse, he was aware of something soft and warm being placed on his head.  _ Craig’s hat. _ He finally lifted his gaze to look at Craig, who was carefully adjusting the hat so it wouldn’t hang over Tweek’s eyes.

 

“There...I’d rather have you pull at my hat than yanking out handfuls of your hair anymore,” Craig said, gently taking Tweek’s hands in his own and lowering them away from his hair. “And also...you know, it’s totally okay to have like, a security item. A lot of people have something they hold on to that helps them feel better.”

 

“R-really…?” Tweek asked uncertainly. “You don’t think it’s, like...weird?”

 

“No way. I think it’s good, actually. I mean, like I said, a lot of people have something like that that helps them keep calm, like a blanket or a stuffed animal or whatever. That’s kind of what Stripe is to me. It’s just a good way to cope and calm yourself down.”

 

“Oh…” Tweek hadn’t realized that, but hearing that even Craig sought out comfort like that sometimes was reassuring to him. So often it was hard for him to feel “normal” compared to others, but knowing he wasn’t alone on this made him feel better.

 

“And just so you know...you can definitely borrow my hat whenever you want,” Craig went on. “You can take it for days at a time, if you need. I don’t mind. Also, I was thinking, maybe I could help you out at the coffee shop sometimes. If your parents don’t care, I mean. I wouldn’t mind cleaning or whatever, and at least we could hang out together on days you have to work.”

 

It was the first time Tweek had managed to smile that day, if only a little bit. “Thanks a lot, Craig...that really means a lot.”

 

Craig returned the smile, then pulled Tweek a little closer so they were huddled together on the bench. Tweek pulled Craig’s hat more snuggly over his head, noticing he was feeling a lot calmer now. Granted, he knew this couldn’t completely erase his anxieties...nothing ever worked that well for him. But at least for the moment, he could forget about them for a little while.

 

As long as he wasn’t alone, the cold, cruel world felt a little less cold.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading, please let me know what you think!


End file.
